A 50s atomic-anxiety post-apocalyptic science-fiction 3D B-movie where a species of moon aliens (men in giant gorilla suits and diving helmets with antennas on them) have exterminated the human race using their “death ray.” That is with the exception of about 5-8 immune survivors who live on a dry patch of LA desert, and who spend most of their time playing “house”/frolicking around in the nearby canyon (the children trying not to be bored, the adult couple pawing each other…

One of those rare perfect alignments of material and maker: an oddball-stylist with a deep ion for weirdos and old science-fiction/horror B-movies, and the ultimate symbol of both in the “worst director of all time” Edward D. Wood Jr. A true no-budget avant-garde outsider artist whose deployment of poverty row resources and every bizarre, meager and technically incompetent Halloween store trick he managed to improvise to get his films made; using stock/repeating footage, comically artificial sets/VFX, completely nonsensical dialogue for…

Last seen on a worn-out VHS, at an age where I definitely had zero thoughts about Disney tastelessly borrowing a cultural setting/iconography for colorful slapstick purposes. Despite having some questionable feelings about that as an adult, finally seeing the gorgeous animation work on a better format/screen was honestly pretty overwhelming. The renaissance crew was at the height of their abilities when it came to storyboarding and art directing these complex sequences of motion and individual frames that were allowed to…

First revisit in quite a while due to (similarly to Reservoir Dogs) simply overplaying in my teenage cinephile years and having it memorized. The 30th anniversary last year however finally inspired me to finally pick up the 4K Blu-ray and give it another look, which felt a lot like hanging out/catching up with an old friend.

Not sure anyone really needs to hear about the virtues of its intricate structure in both writing and formal construction; eccentric character hangout dialogue/performances;…

Might be going easy on it because its baby slop from when I was a baby but honestly outside of the super janky early aughts CG there's stuff to like here: solid cast for all the major roles (especially Lillard whose physical performance and mugging is literal human cartoon shit), lots of elaborate and fun spring break meets haunted house theme park production design (photographed by the guy who shot Mad Max for some reason?), and enough pure weird factor…

First watch since high school when, for whatever reason, Andrew Niccol was the God of English teacher core cinema where complex themes were put into a moderately clever/easily digestible science-fiction package (watched both Gattaca and this in that context), and my primary takeaway didn't run much deeper than that it was kind of weird to see Jim Carrey be sad. This dude was the Mask, and the Riddler and Ace Ventura to me—let him do the mugging!

What most holds…

"I can't tell you anything you don't know. We live in the trenches out there. We fight. We try not to be killed. Sometimes we are. That's all."

The first (and still best) adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's partially autobiographical recounting of the torturously bleak experience of serving in the German army trenches of WWI at the age of 18, a novel filled lots of disturbing ground level detail of what he witnesses but also a broader brutally pointed sadness…

The honor of Hitchcock's final silent film and first talkie both go to this adaptation of a West End stage play about the (self-defense) murder of a rapist painter by a woman modelling for him, and the subsequent cover-up/fallout that sees her caught between a smug asshole blackmailer and her detective boyfriend trying to help her navigate her way out of the situation. The transition from these incredible Lang-esque silent thriller setpieces that it was originally designed for to the…

An appropriately blunt and ugly final film for Hollywood B-movie legend Phil Karlson, who had a surprise blockbuster hit on his hands nearing the end of his career with Walking Tall; his merging of a folk hero western with the 70s trend of dirty regional outlaw exploitation actioners and cathartically gruesome post-Dirty Harry vigilante justice movies. Instead of making the sequel that would’ve made both of them a lot more money, he and his charming southern brute star Joe Don…

A painfully honest wartime autobiography about the isolation and delusion of an orphaned teenage boy who witnesses the gruesome details of firebombing and poverty, and is forced to assume guardianship responsibility beyond his prideful understanding of the world. One drawn in an intensely beautiful and lyrical animation style that nonetheless refuses to give its child protagonist(s) any sort of fantasy to escape into or to help provide a cathartic metaphor for them to comprehend or accept their situation, instead simply…

It feels right that Don Siegel's follow-up to Dirty Harry was finding near-perfect material for directly translating his sturdy, blunt-force filmmaking sensibility and love of technicians/professionals. A heist-gone-wrong thriller with a fairly simple and tense plot involving a gang of small-time crooks led by a former stunt-pilot turned crop-duster turned low-level career criminal Charley Varrick (a wonderfully weary and relaxed Walter Matthau lending some charm and soul to the idea of being “the last of the independents”), who rob a…